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Overview

These T&T Clark academic monographs represent the most cutting-edge research and newest insights in the study of the former and latter prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Using advances in fields such as literary, rhetorical, and socio-scientific analysis, these volumes offer in-depth exegesis on important passages, theological interpretation of significant texts and themes, and a window into the biblical world of the ancient Near East through which we can better understand the context and message of the prophetical books.

Many of the volumes in this collection are from the Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS/JSOTS). This premier book series offers state-of-the-art work for a readership of scholars, teachers in the field of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies, postgraduate students, and advanced undergraduates. The series addresses the diverse aspects of Old Testament study, including innovative work that is both interdisciplinary and international in scope.

The Logos Bible Software editions of these volumes are designed to enhance and enrich your study and understanding of the Hebrew Bible’s prophetical books. Scripture passages link directly to English translations and original-language texts, and important theological and hermeneutical concepts link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. In addition, you can perform powerful searches by topic and find what other authors, scholars, and theologians have to say about things like intertextuality, socio-literary analysis, deutero-Isaiah, and visionary prophecy.

Legitimacy, Illegitimacy, and the Right to Rule: Windows on Abimelech’s Rise and Demise in Judges 9

This book explores the portrayal of the rise, reign, and demise of Abimelech in Judges 9 and asks whose interests this portrayal may have served. The negative depiction of Abimelech’s kingship in this chapter, coupled with Gideon’s rejection of kingship in Judges 8:22–23, has led interpreters to view the passage as anti-monarchic. This perspective clashes with the pro-monarchic stance of Judges 17–21. However, while the portrayal of Abimelech’s kingship is negative, it may yet have served as a legitimation strategy for the monarchy. In support, this study examines Judges 9 through three methodological lenses: a narrative analysis, a rhetorical analysis, and a social-scientific analysis.

In addition, anthropological data on early and developing states shows that such states attempt to prevent fissioning (the tendency inherent within political systems to break up and form similar units) by subverting local leaders, groups, and institutions, thus legitimizing the centralization of power. When read in this light, Judges 9 supports monarchic interests by seeking to subvert localized rule and alliances in favor of a centralized polity.

[The book’s] strong attempt to weld three methodologies together is to be commended and copied. Its emphasis on attempts at delegitimization of Abimelech is welcome. Its search for an implied audience early in Israel’s history joins the work of several of us in seeking a wholeness to Judges directed to the early monarchy. Showing how each method may point to this setting for the book is commendable . . . Welcome Gordon Oeste into the guild of Judges scholars by reading his book and providing helpful critique that will push the study of Judges further through use of every available methodology.

. . . a refreshing and valuable contribution to the study of the story of Abimelech. Indeed, the time may come when O[este]’s book will be counted among the seminal publications that paved the way toward recovering a measure of consistency in the political agenda of Judges.

—The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Gordon Oeste is an associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Heritage Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario.

Crossing the Jordan: Diachrony Versus Synchrony in the Book of Joshua

This book presents a test case for diachronic and synchronic approaches in Joshua 3–4. Lee introduces the synchronic readings of Polzin, Hawk, and Winther-Nielsen, as well as their attempts to uncover the problems in applying their methods to this complicated text. He then investigates the differences between the MT and the LXX of Joshua 3–4 through text critical analysis and reconstructs the LXX’s Hebrew Vorlage of Joshua 3-4, considering divergences between major Greek editions, and examines the limitations of Polzin’s synchronic study in reading only from the final text of the MT. For the purpose of reading the literary history of Joshua 3–4 in a diachronic way, Lee considers what position this text holds in the setting of the wider context of the ark narratives and water crossing stories in the Old Testament, e.g. the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 13:17–14:31 and with Elijah and Elisha crossing the river in 2 kings 2. He examines the recent trends in literary criticism and attempts to trace the most probable literary history of Joshua 3–4.

Eun-Woo Lee is professor at Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary in Seoul, Korea.

Juxtaposition and the Elisha Cycle

Author: Rachelle Gilmour

Series: Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS/JSOTS)

Publisher: T&T Clark

Publication Date: 2013

Pages: 240

This monograph examines the juxtaposition of narrative units in biblical narrative and the effect this has on interpretation. Early rabbinical and inner-biblical interpretations suggest that juxtaposition was an intentional device used by biblical editors and authors to shape the meaning of their material. Therefore, this monograph develops a framework for recognizing the ways in which adjacent units interpret and re-interpret one another and presents this framework as an important hermeneutical tool. Stories and episodes that are linked chronologically affect one another through a relationship of causes and consequences. The categories of contradiction, corroboration, and question and answer are also used to describe the types of interaction between narrative units and demonstrate how such dialogues create new meaning. Indicators in the text that guide the audience towards the intended interpretation are identified in order that a “poetics” of juxtaposition is developed. The theoretical basis established in the first half of the monograph is then applied to the Elisha cycle. Each episode is interpreted independently and then read in juxtaposition with the surrounding episodes, producing a fresh literary reading of the cycle. Furthermore, in order to demonstrate how juxtaposition functioned as a diachronic process, attention is given to the literary history of the cycle. Gilmour reconstructs earlier interpretations of the Elisha episodes and compares them to the final form of the cycle. Finally, the Elisha cycle is itself a story juxtaposed with other stories, so the same principles of interpretation are used to suggest the meaning of the cycle within the book of Kings.

Rachelle Gilmour received her PhD from the University of Sydney and is a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of Representing the Past: A Literary Analysis of Narrative Historiography in the Book of Samuel.

An Introduction to the Study of Isaiah

This volume provides an accessible, yet comprehensive, introduction to the book of Isaiah from one of the foremost experts on this book of the Hebrew Bible. Stromberg uses a commonly accepted delineation to structure his presentation of the book into first, second, and third Isaiah and introduces them each in turn. He then presents and discusses the literary approaches that have been applied to Isaiah and offers a method of reading Isaiah holistically. Finally, Stormberg rounds out this helpful introduction by discussing various approaches to and aspects of Isaianic theology.

Jacob Stromberg is one of the leading young experts on Isaiah today. As this introduction confirms, he is also one of its foremost teachers. Stromberg brings the breadth and depth of his learning to bear on this, the most complex book in the Hebrew Bible, unfolding its secrets to a new generation of students and scholars. Leading his readers with ease through the labyrinth of modern studies on the book, Stromberg keeps his eye firmly fixed on the most central compositional and theological issues at play. He consistently proves himself a reliable and sure-footed guide. He writes with clarity and accessibility, without falling into reductionism. What is more, Stromberg’s articulation of Isaiah’s multifaceted, intertwined theological arguments is a remarkable achievement, lucid and graceful. This is without doubt the best introduction to Isaiah in English.

—William A. Tooman, lecturer in Hebrew Bible, University of St. Andrews

A comprehensive and well-researched look at present Isaiah studies, with reflections on the practice of reading this challenging, composite work. Clearly and competently set forth, An Introduction to the Study of Isaiah does what its title says.

Jacob Stromberg earned his DPhil from the University of Oxford and is a lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Isaiah after Exile: the Author of Third Isaiah as Reader and Redactor of the Book.

The Characterization of the Assyrians in Isaiah: Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives

Author: Mary Katherine Y. H. Hom

Series: Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS/JSOTS)

Publisher: T&T Clark

Publication Date: 2012

Pages: 256

The Characterization of the Assyrians in Isaiah is a literary analysis of every text in Isaiah which explicitly or implicitly features the Assyrians. In addition, a few texts regarded by dominant voices in scholarship as referring to the Assyrians are discussed. The general approach of this work is to assume a literary synchronic reading in order to appreciate the narrative artistry and meaning conveyed by the final form of the text and to establish a standard from which diachronic inquiry may proceed.

Each chapter is a study in its own right, usually concentrating on a passage or chapter of Isaiah. In addition to analyzing the role of the Assyrians from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives, these chapters also explore the sophisticated ways by which literary devices function in relation to the depiction of the Assyrians.

Hom has successfully put forth an exegetical journey of the characterizations of the Assyrians in Isaiah. Her writing is clear, her arguments are cogent, and her exegesis is solid. The volume would be of great use to students of Assyriology and of Isaiah and the prophets, or even of biblical history in general.

—Reviews in Religion & Theology

Mary Katherine Y. H. Hom earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge and has taught biblical studies at Ambrose University College. She has lectured and taught in numerous countries and contributed to various scholarly journals.

Prophecy and Power: Jeremiah in Feminist and Postcolonial Perspective

Editors: Christl M. Maier, Carolyn J. Sharp

Series: Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS/JSOTS)

Publisher: T&T Clark

Publication Date: 2013

Pages: 256

This volume advances the scholarly discussion of Jeremiah via rigorous feminist and postcolonialist theorizing of texts and interpretive issues. The essays here, by seasoned scholars of Jeremiah, offer significant traction on the biblical book’s construction of the persona of Jeremiah and the subjectivity of Judah as subaltern, analysis of gendered imagery for the speaking subject in Jeremiah and for the Judean social body, exploration of rhetorics of imperialism and resistance, and theological implications of feminist-critical perspectives on YHWH and other deities represented in Jeremiah.

Essays here deftly synthesize historical, literary, and ideological-critical insights in service of nuanced inquiry into Jeremiah as a complex cultural production. The collection represents the recent development of international critical thinking on Jeremiah. It should prove invaluable in shaping the parameters of the continuing scholarly conversation on the Book of Jeremiah.

Christl M. Maier is professor of Old Testament at Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany.

Empire and Exile: Postcolonial Readings of the Book of Jeremiah

Empire and Exile explores the impact of Babylonian aggression upon the book of Jeremiah by calling attention to the presence of the empire and showing how the book of Jeremiah can be read as resistant responses to the inevitability of imperial power and the experience of exile. Utilizing postcolonial theory, resistance is framed in these readings as finding a place in the world, even without controlling territory, and therefore surviving social death. It argues that even though exile is not prevented, exile is experienced in the constituting of a unique place in the world rather than in the assimilation of the nation.

The insights of postcolonial theory direct this reading of the book of Jeremiah from the perspective of the displaced. Theorists Homi Bhabha, Partha Chatterjee, Stuart Hall, and Bell Hooks provide lenses to read issues peculiar to groups affected by dominant powers such as empires. The use of these theories helps highlight issues such as marginality, hybridity, and national identity as formative tools in resistance to empire and survival in exile.

Empire and Exile offers a lucid analysis of ways in which the book of Jeremiah reveals ancient Judean strategies for cultural survival during the period of Babylonian domination. Deftly deploying insights of Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, and other postcolonial theorists, Davidson reads Jeremiah’s sign acts, discourses, and biographical narratives as complex responses to the pressures of colonization and dislocation. Fresh and compelling, this work sheds new light on the ambivalences that attend the subaltern’s struggle to reconfigure ‘home’ in an imperial context. Empire and Exile is an indispensable resource for readers wishing to explore the intersections of postcolonial criticism and biblical studies.

Steed Davidson received his PhD from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is an assistant professor of Old Testament at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. His teaching centers on prophetic books, paying attention to ancient empires and responses to empires in the formation of texts.

Jeremiah (Dis)Placed: New Directions in Writing/Reading Jeremiah

Editors: A. R. Pete Diamond and Louis Stulman

Series: Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS/JSOTS)

Publisher: T&T Clark

Publication Date: 2011

Pages: 336

Jeremiah (Dis)Placed collects the best of the papers and responses presented to the 2007 and 2008 sessions of the Writing/Reading Jeremiah Group (SBL) offering an assessment of new interpretative directions in current Jeremiah Studies.

The Writing/Reading Jeremiah group was re-launched at the 2007 annual meeting of the SBL. Its purpose is to invite new readings and constructions of meaning with the book of Jeremiah “this side” of historicist paradigms and postmodernism. The group welcomes all strategies of reading Jeremiah that seek to reconfigure, redeploy, and move beyond conventional readings of Jeremiah. Their manifesto: “Not by compositional history alone, nor biographical portrayal alone, nor their accompanying theological superstructures. Rather, we seek interpretation from new spaces opened for reading Jeremiah by the postmodern turn.”

This book is well-edited and well-proofed. No doubt this collection will affect future research made on the book of Jeremiah in many ways.

After Ezekiel: Essays on the Reception of a Difficult Prophet

Ezekiel has long been considered the most difficult of all the prophetic books to understand. The prophet’s unusual visions, extraordinary behavior, and extravagant imagery have perplexed and fascinated readers for more than 2,500 years. The prophet has had an impact not only on theology and the life of the church and synagogue, but also on culture, art, and architecture. The volume brings together 15 new essays on Ezekiel’s impact by leading scholars which focus on a range of different parts of the book and periods of reception. Historically, they cover the reception of Ezekiel from the New Testament to the present day, and include both Jewish and Christian readings of the book. Methodologically, they offer a wide sample of the different approaches to the reception/history of interpretation current in contemporary biblical studies.

Overall, this is a very interesting and stimulating book. The essays have unearthed a wealth of insights that can be of help to us when we approach the difficult book of Ezekiel and seek to come to terms with its theology and its worldview.

It makes use not only of religious texts, but also of artistic representations. It therefore offers a kaleidoscopic montage of themes and images from Ezekiel as they make an impact in a wide variety of contexts . . . Each of these pieces is a detailed scholarly analysis of its particular topic. The collection as a whole conveys a sense of Ezekiel, not as a dry text whose ‘problems’ need to be solved, but as a living book, in continuous conversation with its interpreters.

—Reviews in Religion & Theology

Paul M. Joyce is university lecturer in theology at the University of Oxford and a fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford. He is author of Divine Initiative and Human Response in Ezekiel and numerous articles on Ezekiel. He currently chairs the Society of Biblical Literature’s ‘Theological Perspectives on the Book of Ezekiel’ Section.

Andrew Mein is tutor in Old Testament at Westcott House, Cambridge.

Reconsidering the Date and Provenance of the Book of Hosea: The Case for Persian-Period Yehud

This study argues that the book of Hosea ought to be understood and read as a text that was composed in Persian-period Yehud rather than in eighth-century Israel. The author challenges the traditional scholarship and emphasizes that there is evidence to suggest that the book should be viewed as a Judahite text—a book that was composed in the late sixth or early fifth century BC. Bos provides an overview of the state of prophetic research, as well as a discussion of genre and the generation of prophetic books, linguistic dating and provenance, and a survey of Hosea research. Bos discusses various aspects of the book of Hosea that aim to prove his argument the book was composed in Persian-period Yehud, namely, the anti-monarchical ideology of the book, the dual theme of “Exile” and “Return” which is consistent with the discourse found in other Judahite books dating to the sixth century, and the historiographical traditions.

James M. Bos earned his PhD in Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan. He is currently a visiting instructor of religion at the University of Mississippi.

The Book of Joel: A Prophet between Calamity and Hope

Prophetic sayings are generally a reaction to immediate realities, and therefore attempts to understand prophetic literature without the benefit of the prophet’s historical milieu are limited or inaccurate. Contrary to the prevailing opinion that Joel is post-exilic, it is argued that the book is located within the exilic period, recognizing the lack of any rebuke consistent with a people experiencing deep despair. The Book of Joel places great emphasis on the motif of the divine presence residing in the midst of Israel, and it is asserted that the prophet’s main purpose was to bring the people to a renewed connection with the Lord after the destruction of the Temple, which, though physically ruined, had not lost its religious significance. A literary and rhetorical analysis demonstrates how the prophet sought to influence his audience. Literary devices and rhetorical tools are investigated, and their relevance and contribution to the book’s meanings are explored. One central feature of the book is its focus on a detailed discussion of the position and purpose of the locust plague, employing recent literary approaches.

Elie Assis is the head of the department of Bible studies at Bar Ilan University. Among his scholarly work are his books From Moses to Joshua and from the Miraculous to the Ordinary: A Literary Analysis of the Conquest Narrative in the Book of Joshua, Self-Interest or Communal Interest? An Ideology of Leadership in the Gideon, Abimelech, and Jephthah Narratives (Judg. 6-12), and Flashes of Fire.

Aspects of Amos: Exegesis and Interpretation

This volume brings together eight new essays on Amos which focus on a range of issues within the book. They represent a number of different approaches to the text, from the text-critical to the psychoanalytical, and cover the history of the text, from composition to reception. Arising out of a symposium to honor John Barton for his 60th birthday, the essays all respond, either directly or indirectly, to his Amos’s Oracles Against the Nations, and to his lifelong concern with both ethics and method in biblical study.

Biblical scholars working on the book of Amos may find some of the detailed analysis of individual verses and/or passages helpful.

Anselm Hagedorn is wissenschaftlicher assistant in Old Testament at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin

Andrew Mein is tutor in Old Testament at Westcott House, Cambridge.

Still Selling the Righteous: A Redaction-Critical Investigation of Reasons for Judgment in Amos 2:6–16

Author: Graham R. Hamborg

Series: Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS/JSOTS)

Publisher: T&T Clark

Publication Date: 2012

Pages: 304

This redaction-critical study interprets the reasons for judgment in Amos 2:6–16 in the literary context of each of the redactional compositions which, it is argued, underlie the text of Amos. It is proposed that the Amos text is both a theological work and a tractate of social criticism. In earlier redactional compositions, the dominant reasons for judgment concern mistreatment of the weak. In the later redactional compositions, these are overshadowed by more theological reasons for judgment. However, the theological reasons for judgment strengthen, rather than weaken, the force of the judgment against those who mistreat the weak.

Graham Hamborg is a continuing ministerial development officer in the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford. This study is a revision of his doctoral thesis for which he was awarded a PhD by the University of Nottingham.

Lexical Dependence and Intertextual Allusion in the Septuagint of the Twelve Prophets: Studies in Hosea, Amos, and Micah

This book explores various aspects of intertextuality in the LXX of the Twelve Minor Prophets, with a special emphasis on Hosea, Amos, and Micah. Divided into five parts, the first introduces the topic of intertextuality, discusses issues relating to the Twelve and their translator, and concludes with various methodological considerations. Chapter two deals initially with the lexical sourcing of the prophets in their Hellenistic milieu and tests proposed theories of influence from the Pentateuch.

The rest of the book examines specific cases from the books of Hosea, Amos, and Micah. The third chapter deals with standard expressions used by the translator, even in places where the Hebrew does not correspond. The fourth chapter investigates the use of catchwords that the Greek translator identified in his Hebrew vorlage and that function for him as links between two or more texts. Finally, the fifth chapter examines cases where the translator understands the text to be alluding to specific biblical stories, events, and characters of particular interest in Hellenistic Judaism.

Myrto Theocharous is a professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at the Greek Bible College in Athens, Greece. She received her MA in Biblical Exegesis from Wheaton College in Illinois and her doctorate in Hebrew Studies from the University of Cambridge.

Visions and Eschatology: A Socio-Historical Analysis of Zechariah 1–6

Author: Antonios Finitsis

Series: The Library of Second Temple Studies

Publisher: T&T Clark

Publication Date: 2013

Pages: 208

Zechariah 1–6 is unlike most of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He is pro-establishment and he conveys his message mostly with visions. These observations have led to scholarly disagreements as to how one should understand his role. Antonios Finitsis mediates these disagreements by triangulating the relationship of Zechariah’s visionary mode of expression, his message, and his function. Finitsis does this by examining the link between prophecy and apocalypticism in Zechariah and argues that Proto-Zechariah’s viewpoint is particular to the post-exilic social setting. His visions are influenced by the social circumstances in which they are expressed. Proto-Zechariah refers to the near-future, using elements from the community’s present. Therefore, Finitsis defines the message of Proto-Zechariah as one of restoration eschatology, suggesting that the text is addressed to a small province plagued by inner-community conflicts. The text succeeds in alleviating social discord by empowering the people to rebuild their community. This presents a unique and challenging understand of Zechariah’s prophetic role.

Antonios Finitsis is assistant professor of Hebrew Bible at Pacific Lutheran University

Urban Imagination in Biblical Prophecy

Author: Mary E. Mills

Series: Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (LHBOTS/JSOTS)

Publisher: T&T Clark

Publication Date: 2012

Pages: 272

This volume brings together aspects of contemporary study of cultural geography and selected passages from prophetic texts of the Hebrew Bible. The aim is to identify how the image of the city helps to construct meaning inside the biblical material. In order to carry out this task, relevant textual narratives are analyzed and then read from the viewpoint of space, place, and urban studies. The latter category includes the works of Lefebvre, Bachelard, Soja, Massey, Amin, Thrift, and Pile, among others. A major finding is that urban imagination is a tool by which the texts manage the experience of political and social events in a time of radical change.

Mary Mills is professor of biblical studies at Liverpool Hope University. She studied modern history before turning to biblical studies, completing her doctoral studies at Heythrop College in the University of London. She is the author of Joshua to Kings: History, Story, Theology.

Product Details

Title: T&T Clark Studies in the Hebrew Bible.The Former and Latter Prophets